Typical wiper blades used on vehicles are plagued with numerous persistent drawbacks. Traditional wiper blades have a force distribution structure that is a plurality of tournament-style brackets or frames which distribute the force provided by a wiper arm. In an effort to improve upon the traditional, bracketed wiper blade, the beam blade (or flat blade) was developed, keeping a lower profile and generally providing a more uniform force distribution than most bracketed wiper blades. Beam blades use one or more spring-elastic metal beams as a force distribution structure. However beam blades do not have the lateral stability of bracketed blades, and can have problems with wrapping (i.e. keeping contact between the outer edges of the wiper blade and the windshield) when their curvature is not sufficiently sharp for the windshield, and banding (i.e. losing contact with the windshield in the middle of the wiper blade, thereby leaving an unwiped band) when their curvature is too sharp for the windshield. Accordingly, beam blades may serve well for original equipment (i.e. the wiper blades installed by manufacturers on cars that are designed specifically for that car, but can experience problems on certain vehicles if designed as aftermarket wiper blades (i.e. replacement blades designed to be used on a variety of different windshields where the manufacturer does not know what vehicle the blade will be used on).
The first generation of hybrid wiper blades developed improved on beam blade performance in these circumstances. These blades combine the use of brackets with a beam to improve on the blades' wrapping characteristics without creating problems with banding. Second generation hybrid blades had a primary frame connected to beams, and/or beam-like frames in tournament style. The following patent applications are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety, including their disclosures with respect to the background and field of art of wiper blades: U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 13/453,601; 13/679,646; 13/572,100; 13/587,389; 13/840,256; 13/776,376; and 13/776,383.
Each type of wiper blade may be provided with a cover to protect the interior portions of the wiper blade, such as the force distribution structure and its joints and points of contact with wiper strip. Covers may also be provided with a spoiler or wind deflection strip, which provides downward force while a car is in motion. However, regardless of the type of cover used, water may build on or inside the cover and freeze during the winter, impacting the performance of the wiper blade. Others have tried to apply hydrophobic coatings to the materials used. U.S. Pat. No. 6,287,642 describes such a coating. However, doing so adds additional materials and requires additional manufacturing process steps to make these products. This unnecessarily adds to time and cost to the process of making these products. Accordingly, the present disclosure presents novel concepts relating to using hydrophobic materials, or more specifically, materials exhibiting hydrophobic qualities to make covers for wiper blades.